(Not Applicable)
(Not Applicable)
The present invention relates generally to seat covers, and more particularly to an improved, two-stage seat cover which transitions from a one-piece system for accommodating a rear-facing child safety chair to a two-piece system for accommodating a forward-facing one to prevent a seat from being soiled and permanently compressed thereby.
Child safety chairs have been marketed throughout the world for many years. It is now mandatory within the United States for parents to employ child safety chairs when traveling in vehicles so that their children are safe in case an unfortunate event such as a car accident should occur.
Child safety chairs on seats are typically positioned in two directions depending upon the age and/or weight of the child using it. The safety chair is typically placed to face toward the vehicle""s rear when it is used upon a small infant generally up to six months of age. As the infant matures in age and weight (i.e., six months up to eight years or eighty pounds in weight), the child safety chair is usually turned around so that it faces toward the front of the vehicle.
Existing safety restraints such as lap and shoulder belts are typically utilized to harness the child safety chairs to the vehicular seats. However, a significant problem exists in that the weight of these chairs are continuously applied upon the vehicular seats, thereby often causing permanent compression damages thereto. The degree of permanent compression damage can drastically increase given the fact that the weight of infant or child has to be accounted for in addition to the safety chair""s weight. Most parents have found such damage to be simply unacceptable as they permanently deforms the seats of their vehicles.
Further marring to the vehicular seats can occur when infants or children using the child safety chairs inadvertently soil the seats, for example, by diaper leaks on accidental spilling of their drinks and/or food.
To alleviate these problems, many parents resort to using seat coverings such as plastic sheets, rubber mats and foam padded blankets between the vehicular seats and the child safety chairs. Though these seat coverings generally achieve their primary objective of protecting vehicular seats, they possess certain deficiencies which detract for their overall utility.
Perhaps the greatest deficiency of such coverings is their inability to protect the entirety of the vehicular seats. Specifically, plastic sheets, rubber mats and padded blankets are essentially tailored to cover only the seating portions of the vehicular seats and may be useful when accommodating a rearward-facing safety chair as it distributes weight solely on the seating portion of the vehicular seat. However, when the chair is repositioned to be forward-facing, these coverings typically cannot prevent the chair from further contacting the exposed seat-back portion of the vehicular seat thereby inevitably dispersing its weight thereto. Although multiple layers of plastic sheets, rubber mats or padded blankets may theoretically be spread over the seats, such arrangement will be aesthetically unpleasing, not to mention being awkward and difficult to maintain as they are not designed for such use.
In view of the above-described shortcomings of conventional vehicular seat coverings, there exists a need in the art for a vehicular seat cover that can optimally accommodate both rearward and forward facing child safety chairs, the directions of which are critical at various stages of a child""s growth. More specifically, there exists a need for a vehicular seat cover which can prevent vehicular seats from becoming soiled and permanently compressed irrespective of the orientations that the child safety chairs take.
The present invention specifically addresses and alleviates the above-referenced deficiencies associated with the use of the seat coverings of the prior art. More particularly, the present invention is an improved, two-stage seat cover which may easily alternate between one-piece and two-piece configurations so as to accommodate both rear and forward facing child safety chairs. As will be demonstrated below, the present seat cover""s adaptability to transition between such configurations allows an infant and/or child to be safely carried within a vehicle, while preventing the vehicular seats from being damaged by accidental soiling or permanent compressions caused by the weight-bearing child safety chairs.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a two-stage seat cover for preventing a vehicular seat from being soiled or permanently deformed by a child safety chair which continuously applies its weight thereupon. The seat cover of the present invention comprises a lower rigid/semi-rigid protective member which is disposable upon a seating portion of the vehicular seat. The lower protective member is specifically designed for accommodating a rearward-facing safety chair as it is solely the chair""s base section that contacts and thus applies weight to the seat at the seating portion. By using the lower protective member between the safety chair and the seating portion, the weight of the chair is distributed over the entire surface area of the protective member to thereby reduce any force generated by the weight from deforming the seating portion. Hence, the seating portion is prevented from suffering any permanent compression deformation.
The lower protective member additionally includes a lower peripheral edge which forms a ridge-like configuration substantially therearound. This ridge may be formed by shaping the lower peripheral edge in that configuration, or alternatively, by selectively extending an elongate strip around the lower peripheral edge. If the latter step is taken, the strip should be fabricated from a rigid or semi-rigid material (e.g., rubber) so that a configuration of a ridge is maintained at all times. By providing the ridge, any spills such as spilled drinks or diaper leaks originating from the child safety chair are maintained within the ridge and on the top surface of the protective member to prevent them from contacting and soiling any part of the seat and/or vehicular interiors.
Optionally, at least one pocket may be provided on the lower forward edge part of the lower protective member. Such pocket(s) may be any type which can adequately hold various items (e.g., baby bottles, toys, etc.) therein such as a mesh pocket, for example. The pocket may be attached to the lower forward edge by multiple means such as hook-and-loop strips (commonly called the Velcro) or by simply using permanent fasteners.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the seat cover also features an upper protective member which is selectively attachable to the lower protective member and is disposable against a seat-back portion of the vehicular seat. The upper protective member is specifically designed to be used in combination with the lower protective member for accommodating a forward-facing safety chair as it further applies its weight to the seat-back portion of the seat in addition to the seating portion. By providing the upper protective member when desired, the force generated by the weight of the forward-facing chair may similarly be more evenly distributed thereby so as to replace localized compression forces on the seat-back portion of the vehicle seat. Thus, the seat-back portion, as well as the seating portion, can be protected from becoming permanently deformed by the continuous weight imposed by the child safety chair.
The upper and lower protective members may be releasibly attached to each other through one of many known conventional methods. One of such preferred methods is employing the hook-and-loop fastening (commonly called Velcro). More specifically, a hook strip can be formed adjacent the upper bottom edge of the upper protective member, whereas a loop strip can be formed adjacent the lower rear edge of the lower protective member. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that an alternate arrangement may also be possible where the hook strip is defined adjacent the lower rear edge and the loop strip is defined adjacent the upper bottom edge. By utilizing this hook-and-loop arrangement, the upper protective member can easily and conveniently be attachable and detachable with respect to the lower protective member.
In operation, the present two-stage seat cover is used according to a child""s growth progression for the purpose of accommodating a child safety chair upon a vehicular seat. As mentioned above, a parent typically utilizes the safety chair in a rearward-facing direction when his or her child is in the infant stage (i.e., below six months of age). To accommodate the rearward-facing safety chair, the parent may solely lay the lower protective member on the seat""s seating portion such that the rearward-facing safety chair can be accommodated thereupon substantially within its formed ridge-like configuration. In this respect, the risk of permanent compression damage to the seating portion is significantly mitigated as the force generated by the chair""s weight is more uniformly distributed by the lower protective member. Of course, any spillage originating from the safety chair will be contained within the vertical barrier formed by the lower member""s ridge configuration.
When the infant matures in age and weight (i.e., six months up to eight years or eighty pounds in weight), the child safety chair must be turned around so that it now faces the front of the vehicle. In order to further prevent the weight of the forward-facing chair from being directly applied to the seat""s seat-back portion, the upper protective member is disposed therebetween. More particularly, the upper member""s hook strip can be abutted to the lower member""s loop strip for releasible attachment between the upper and lower protective members. By doing so, further weight applied to the seat-back portion by the forward-facing chair is sufficiently distributed by the upper protective member so as to protect against permanent compression damage.